Little General in control

'The General'
Advocaat equalled the record on Wednesday when the Dutch beat Latvia 3-0 to advance to the last eight - his 31st victory. His other games in charge have brought 12 draws and ten defeats. Michels, known as the General, led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and victory in the 1988 UEFA European Championship. Four years later Advocaat became his assistant, earning the sobriquet the Little General before stepping up to assume full control following elimination by Denmark.

Play-off victory
Advocaat went on to coach PSV Eindhoven and Rangers FC before replacing Louis van Gaal as national team coach after the failure to qualify for Korea/Japan. He guided his country to EURO 2004™, via a play-off victory against Scotland, only to see pre-tournament confidence dashed by 1-0 home defeats by Belgium and the Republic of Ireland.

Classic system
Having previously vowed to field two of his four quality strikers - Ruud van Nistelrooij, Patrick Kluivert, Roy Makaay and Pierre van Hooijdonk - Advocaat decided the classic Dutch 4-3-3 with wing-attackers would be most effective in Portugal. "I would make myself look ridiculous if I went back to 4-4-2 now," the coach said. However, Advocaat did just that against the Czech Republic in the second Group D game, replacing Arjen Robben with Paul Bosvelt.

Fans hopeful
The decision backfired as the Czechs fought back to win 3-2, prompting widespread outrage at Advocaat's tactics - 'Dick, does your wife still understand you?' read a banner in Braga. That criticism abated after the victory against Latvia and two-thirds of people in the Netherlands reportedly believe their team will dispense of Sweden to advance to a semi-final against Portugal at the Estádio José Alvalade on Wednesday.

'Emotional time'
So does the coach. "We've had an emotional time and I have to compliment the team for their discipline. We now face Sweden and I think it's very possible that we can beat them," he said.